Benny Lewis's Blog, page 52
April 4, 2019
90 Day Korean Review: Is 90 Day Korean a Good Course?
But when it came to Korean, something was different. Regardless of how many resources I used, I just couldn’t wrap my head around the grammar or the pronunciation. It just didn’t make sense.
I wondered if it would always be like that. In fact, the first time I learned, I gave up after six months. It was my first language defeat. I wondered if perhaps it and I just weren’t meant to be.
But a few months later, I realised I wasn’t ready to give up Korean. I wanted to give it another try.
I decided to commit to learning Korean as a part of the Add1Challenge , along with using 90 Day Korean.
What is 90 Day Korean?
90 Day Korean is a year-long Korean course.
Wait, what?
Yup, you read that right. It’s a year-long course made up of four 90-day modules that take you from the very basics of Korean through to more advanced Korean lessons.
In other words, it teaches Korean from the beginning stages to intermediate level.
Essentially, 90 Day Korean is an online course, and it goes well beyond what you might expect from a traditional course book. First, each of the lessons includes exercises of some sort to help you master the material you’re studying. The end of each mini module (each of the four main modules contains several one week modules) also includes a mission to help you put everything you learned over the week together.
With 90 Day Korean you also have a personal coach who is available to answer your questions, a community forum where you can chat with other Korean learners, and lots of other bonus resources to help you with your Korean.
The course is designed so that you can work at your own pace. Even though it’s structured as a 90 day course, you have access to the materials as long as you’re subscribed. You can work through them as you see fit. If you want to learn on the go, you’re covered here, too. 90 Day Korean also has an app where you can access the course so that you can take your Korean studies with you wherever you go.
Each of the four core modules in 90 Day Korean consists of 14 smaller modules. Each of these smaller modules includes somewhere between 8-15 lessons for you to complete over the period of a week.
Within each of these smaller modules, you learn:
80/20 Korean Vocabulary - This is the 20% of Korean vocabulary that gives you 80% of the results. To put it another way, the focus is on helping you learn high frequency Korean words that you’ll come across again and again as you learn Korean.
Thematic Korean Lingo - This is about learning Korean words around specific topics like food, shopping, or work
Korean Grammar - taught on an as-needed basis so that you can focus on speaking Korean rather than learning grammar rules. The aim is for you to start communicating in Korean right away
Korean Exercises and Missions - so that you can put everything you’re learning into practice
Cultural Facts - so you’ll understand more of how Korean people think, and what’s important to them.
Grading - when you complete the missions, a native Korean speaker corrects them for you
Your 1-to-1 Korean Language Coach
One of the features that most stood out to me in 90 Day Korean is that you’re assigned a 1-to-1 Korean coach. Your coach is there to answer your questions whenever you’re struggling with one of the lessons. You can message them from within the course so that you don’t have to keep track of an email address and they typically respond within 24 hours.
I sent my coach a few questions as I was studying, asking for tips on pronunciation and irregular verbs and I found their replies not only helpful, but incredibly thorough.
When you’re working through a course like this, it’s easy to feel alone and to doubt you’re really understanding everything that you’re learning. That’s where a 1-to-1 coach comes in handy. If ever you’re unsure about whether or not you’ve understood something, or know without a doubt that there’s something you’re not getting, they’re there to help.
Getting Started with 90 Day Korean
Even if you have some experience with Korean, I highly recommend starting from the very first module of 90 Day Korean.
Why? Because the course not only teaches the Korean language, but also a variety of methods that are proven to help Korean learners pick up the language. The course also walks you through memorization techniques so that the words you learn in the course stick with you.
My Experience Using 90 Day Korean: The Good
When I started 90 Day Korean, one thing immediately stood out: the way the course material is written. It’s engaging, well-paced, and best of all, it’s written with a sense of humor. It’s far from dry or boring. The author(s) also weave storytelling into the course, using it to make the grammar and vocabulary you’re learning more relatable and fun.
This helped me get acquainted with an important part of the Korean language. You see, one of the things that I picked up on when learning both Japanese and Korean is that verb endings are important. Basically, the ending you attach to the verb completely changes its meaning.
For example, in Korean, 하다 means “to do”. If I want to say “I do”, I would change it to 해요. From there:
하고 싶어요 - “want to do”
해 보세요 - “try to do”
할 수 있어요 - “could do”
할 수 없어요 - “couldn’t do”
These endings are key to learning to speak the language, but the first time I tried to learn Korean, I had a hard time finding all the most common verb endings in one place. 90 Day Korean turned out to be that place.
In working through 90 Day Korean, I finally had the chance to see all of these different endings in action, read well-written explanations, and do guided practice. It was exactly what I had been looking for in a Korean language resource.
Each of these verb forms are introduced to you gradually as you progress through the course. And despite learning so much useful Korean grammar, the course doesn’t feel grammar intensive. Often, the grammar is masked as a culture lesson, such as when you’re taught to use formal vs informal Korean. At other times, it’s surrounded by lessons focused on vocabulary and other information so you don’t feel as though you’re learning grammar point after grammar point. The lessons are really well organized.
90 Day Korean has several extra features on top of the core course. This includes the option to take notes and store them directly in the course. Personally, I still prefer to take notes by hand. It helps with memory and it’s a pretty rewarding way to see everything you’ve worked on, but it’s still nice to have the option to quickly jot things down and save them for later all in one place.
You learn a lot of material in 90 Day Korean, but as I said before, it’s organized in a way that doesn’t feel overwhelming. It also builds naturally, so everything you learn spans out from what you’ve already studied in earlier lessons.
I started 90 Day Korean a little bit after I began learning Korean for a second time, so I didn’t have a lot of experience with the language.
I dedicated myself to working through the course at a slightly faster pace than what is recommended. When you sign up for the course, you are sent a new mini module each week, but if you want to work through it a little faster, they have instructions within the course about how to contact them to get “advance access” to the course materials. I took advantage of this and in total, it took me about 4 to 5 months to work through everything at an “accelerated” pace. That said, I still want to go back and spend more time with some of the lessons to make sure I really get the most out of the lesson materials.
As you work through the course, you can mark what you’ve gone through as complete. This makes the course extremely versatile because you can bounce around from lesson to lesson, focusing on new material and reviewing old material however you see fit.
Learning Korean with the 80/20 Rule: Maximum Results, Minimum Effort
In 90 Day Korean, what you learn in the course makes use of the Pareto Principle (80/20 rule). Get 80% of the results with 20% of the effort. The material presented in 90 Day Korean is curated for you using this approach. You learn the 20% that will do 80% of the work for you.
Here’s an example from the course:
“Is there a past tense of -(으)세요?
“Yes, there is. However, the amount of time you need it compared to the time it takes to learn makes it fall out of the 80/20 category. If you want to learn the most useful Korean as fast as possible, then you’d be better off focusing your time on other parts of the language.”
When learning a new language, the amount of information that’s thrown at you can feel overwhelming. It’s not hard to wonder: “do I really need to know all of this?” 90 Day Korean seeks to eliminate this feeling by eliminating the material you probably don’t need. That way, when you study, you can focus all of your attention on what’s given to you rather than allow yourself to get distracted by that lingering question in the back of your mind.
My Experience Using 90 Day Korean: What Could Be Better?
Each of the lessons in 90 Day Korean have fun titles, but when you’re working through the course in a non-linear way, this isn’t very user-friendly. For example, after completing the course, there were a couple of lessons that I wanted to go over again, but because the titles didn’t always tell me what the lesson includes, I had a difficult time finding the particular lessons I was looking for later on.
While you can access the course from the 90 Day Korean app, it isn’t an app version of the course. Instead, you’re simply sent over to your browser when you login and access a mobile-friendly version of the course. The experience is a little different than what you might expect within an app and I found it somewhat distracting.
Finally, I found that the search function within the course didn’t really work. On a couple different occasions, I tried to find lessons using the search function, even once pasting in the exact text I had copied from a lesson. Each time, however, I was given the message that nothing matched my search results. This made it hard to find material I wanted to review.
My Conclusion: Do I Recommend 90 Day Korean?
90 Day Korean is an effective way to build a solid foundation in Korean. It includes exercises, lessons, and tools that can aid you in your journey from beginner Korean learner to intermediate level speaker in 12 months or less.
The materials are put into this course in a way that’s easy to follow and builds on what you’ve previously learned. You don’t need to figure out what to study next and if at any point you ever do feel stuck, your Korean coach is a quick message away. There are also plenty of quizzes and missions to keep the things you’re learning fresh.
Want to try out 90 Day Korean for yourself? You can get the full course here.
Or if you’d like to have a taster, check out the 90 Minute Korean Challenge , it’s free and a good way to get a feel for how the course works.
The post 90 Day Korean Review: Is 90 Day Korean a Good Course? appeared first on Fluent in 3 months - Language Hacking and Travel Tips.
March 31, 2019
How Bilingual Kids Get Ahead: 7 Benefits of Learning a Second Language
What benefits can a kid get from learning a second language?
With the internet and other technology making the globe seem smaller with each passing year, knowing additional languages is becoming more commonplace. It’s no longer the exception. And that’s a good thing for both your child and the people they interact with. Here are some of the biggest advantages becoming bilingual has for your child.
1. Opening Up the World of Travel
One of the most intimidating things about travel to many people is the language barrier. Language barriers have prevented some people from traveling to faraway destinations they would go visit if they only spoke the language there.
Now that travel to any part of the world is more accessible, it’s a shame to let anything get in the way of exploring our beautiful earth. Teaching your child a language could someday lead to them experiencing the joys of travel and the eye-opening experience of learning about other cultures.
Learning one country’s language opens up more travel possibilities than just that place though. Many languages are widely used throughout multiple countries. If you’re wanting to teach your child another language to help them travel throughout the world, look for a popular language that’s used many places. Your best bets would be Spanish, French, German, Russian, Portuguese, or Mandarin Chinese.
2. A Better Memory
According to some studies, one of the benefits of learning a second language is an enhanced memory. And amazingly, this works for both children and adults.
If you try to learn a second language with your child, you’ll improve your memory as you go. Although more conclusive research is needed to verify it, some studies have even shown a link between learning a second language and warding off dementia, at least for a while.
Anyone who has known an elderly person suffering from dementia knows how difficult the condition can be. Those with a family history of dementia, or anyone who feels they are at risk, may want to consider adding another language. You can make it a family learning project.
For an added boost, sneak some family exercise time into your language learning. Exercise is also another known way to slow down dementia. So lace up your sneakers and practice your vocabulary with your child as you take a walk. You’ll be working your body and mind at the same time for double the fun and benefits.
3. Improved Focus & Brain Function
Bilingual parenting is one of the best things you can do for your child when it comes to boosting their brain function. There is evidence that the benefits of learning a foreign language include greater intelligence and better concentration.
With so many electronic devices for kids to play with that gives them instant gratification, it’s good to give them an activity that doesn’t do all the work for them or give instant rewards for little effort. With language learning, you only get out of it what you put in.
If you’re worried your child may get frustrated trying to pick up one of the more difficult languages to learn, don’t worry. Some languages are easier for English speakers to pick up. You may want to start there, and possibly add a third language at a later point if your child shows interest.
One of the easiest languages for English speakers to learn is Norwegian. The vocabulary is quite similar and the grammar isn’t the same complicated mess that English can be.
Other easier languages for English speakers can learn include:
Swedish
Spanish
Dutch
Portuguese
Italian
Indonesian
French.
4. Better Job Opportunities
Will every child who attempts to learn a second language become fluent? Probably not. Unless they get constant exposure to the language, and there’s a roadmap in place to get them to a fluent level, they won’t gain more than basic conversational skills in their new language. That’s not a bad thing, but it won’t benefit them as much as fluency will.
If they become fluent, which will take some time, all kinds of possibilities open up to them. Just having that second language under their belt may give them an edge in their job search when they’re older. Bosses place a high emphasis on communication and having someone talented in many facets, including language, is a real asset to any company.
5. A More Realistic View of the World
Kids, and even some adults for that matter, can be incredibly self-centered. They can think the world revolves around them and their corner of the world. It’s good for everyone to at some point learn that’s not true.
The world needs less self-involved citizens, not more. Unfortunately, the U.S. has a reputation for being full of narcissistic people. Raising caring, understanding kids who know there’s a big world out there and that they aren’t the center of it, can help change the reputation we have here in the U.S.
It’s a game changer for them and can alter the course of their lives and how they view and relate to people.
There’s so much intolerance in the world already. Sharing languages can erase some of that, little by little, citizen by citizen.
6. Stronger Family Bonds
Families need to develop a strong bond -- it’s the glue that holds them together. Adding a second language can do that.
If you have an elderly relative who only speaks one language, that’s not English, teaching your child that language will create stronger ties between them. They’ll be able to communicate without the help of anyone else, and they’ll get to know each other better. Once your child becomes more fluent with the language, they can spend more intimate together, conversing only in the new language.
Bringing together generations is just one of the great things learning a second language can do.
Are you an immigrant? Or did your ancestors come to this country, but you want to pay homage to that heritage? Teaching your kids the language of their ancestors can be a great way to do that.
Whether it’s learning French, Spanish, German, or even Gaelic, they may like knowing that they’re speaking the same words as their ancestors they’ve never met. It can give them a sense of belonging, which can be a grounding force in their life.
You can reinforce their feelings about this by showing them pictures of your ancestors who came from the country they’re learning the language from. Tell them what their name was and any other information you know about them. They’ll get a kick out of “meeting” some of their relatives.
7. Self-Confidence
Everyone loves to feel accomplished, and kids are no exception to that rule. Knowing a second language can give them that feeling. When you know you’ve tackled a daunting goal and accomplished what you set out to do, you can feel almost like a superhero. You feel as if there’s nothing you can’t do.
Learning another language can feel a bit like crossing the line when you’ve run your first marathon. You look back at how difficult it was in the beginning and you take pride in the fact that you never gave up, even when you had moments of self-doubt along the way. That creates confidence that can encourage your child to do anything.
Final Tip: Manage Your Expectations and Have Fun
Teaching your child another language can open up a whole new world to both of you. Just remember, it will take patience and plenty of understanding to learn this new skill. Try to avoid turning it into a pressure-cooker situation where you are disappointed because you don’t feel they’re learning fast enough.
You want to make this a fun experience for your child because they’ll be more likely to want to learn. Being bilingual should be a positive thing, and you have the power to make it so by offering encouragement instead of criticism. If it’s something your child sticks with, they will thank you for years to come for making this possible for them.
Are you raising or planning to raise your children bilingual? Let us know which language they are learning, how it’s going, and if you have any tips and tricks that are working for you!
The post How Bilingual Kids Get Ahead: 7 Benefits of Learning a Second Language appeared first on Fluent in 3 months - Language Hacking and Travel Tips.
March 28, 2019
“Goodnight” in Spanish (and 30+ other Spanish Evening Phrases)
Do you know how to express your sleepiness and wish someone “goodnight” in Spanish? No? Then you’ve come to the right place.
There are many ways we say we’re tired and goodnight in English. Things like “I’m hitting the hay” or “I’m hitting the sack”. While they don’t say these exact equivalents, there are some similar evening phrases in Spanish you can use to say goodnight. They’re good Spanish phrases to keep on hand because you’ll say them most days to those around you.
Don’t fall asleep just yet, let’s get started!
“Goodnight” in Spanish
“Goodnight” in Spanish is simple: buenas noches.
Buenas is the feminine form of the adjective bueno, which means “good”. Noches means “nights” and is a feminine noun. So, you get “good nights”.
There’s no conjugation or need to worry about politeness level here. Buenas noches is fine for any social situation to say goodnight or goodbye. But, you also use this phrase to say hello to someone in the evening, like you would say “good evening” as a greeting in English.
“Have a Good Night” in Spanish
To wish someone “have a good night” in Spanish, you say Que tengas buenas noches.
But, in Spanish, you may actually want to wish they pass a good night. For this, you say Que pases buenas noches. The formal version (for someone you don’t know well) uses the usted form, which is the polite form of “you”. For this, the phrase is Ques pase buenas noches usted.
“Good Evening” in Spanish
There’s no true “good evening” phrase in Spanish. All afternoon, up until 7:00 or 8:00pm when it starts getting dark, you say buenas tardes (“good afternoon”). After dark, you use buenas noches (“good night”) as a greeting.
This reflects Spanish culture. The Spanish workday is much longer than normal, running from about 8:30am to 8:00pm. One of the reasons it runs so long is because they tend to take a long break in the middle of the day (about 1:30pm to 4:30pm), called a siesta.
For Spaniards who work these typical hours, afternoon (tarde) lasts until they get off work, and then nighttime (noche) begins. It’s a bit different from in English, but it’s one less greeting you need to learn.
“Sweet Dreams” in Spanish
In English, we often say “sweet dreams” in response to someone saying “goodnight”. In Spanish, you can say “dulces sueños”. Dulce means “sweet” and sueños means “dreams”, so the translation is exactly the same. If you want to make it a full sentence, you can add Que tengas dulces sueños (“Have sweet dreams”).
If you’re talking to someone you’re close to, you can also say descansa. It means “rest well”, and it’s a casual way to wish someone to sleep peacefully after a long, tiring day.
“Sleep Well” in Spanish
Another way we respond to “goodnight” in English is “sleep tight” or “sleep well”. For this, you can say duermas bien. “To sleep” in Spanish is dormir, and bien means “good” or “well”.
If you want to say specifically “sleep tight” it’s sueño profundo, although this isn’t as common in Spanish as duermas bien. The word profundo actually means “deep”, so you’re wishing someone “deep sleep”.
“Goodnight My Love” in Spanish
If you’re talking to your spouse or significant other, or even your child, you can say Buenas noches mi amor. This means “Goodnight, my love”. If you’re saying this to both your spouse and child at the same time, you change mi amor to the plural form: Buenas noches mis amores.
Mi is the possessive “I” in Spanish, and amor is love. You’ll often hear people calling their loved ones mi amor in Spanish. If you want to be particularly affectionate, you can say Que sueñes conmigo (“May you dream of me”).
“Goodnight Beautiful” in Spanish
In Spanish culture, it’s common to compliment someone and call them “my love” or “beautiful”. Spanish is full of romance words, and Spanish speaking people love to sound romantic. It’s nice to always be complimented, right?
To tell someone “Goodnight, beautiful”, you say buenas noches, hermosa. Other common words are bella (“lovely”) or bonita (“pretty”). Although hermosa is the literal translation for “beautiful”, it’s more common to say bella, because hermosa sounds a bit formal. You can also change the ending -a to -o when talking to a man. So, bonita becomes bonito, and so on. Why not try complimenting others in several different ways when you wish them goodnight?
“Goodnight Handsome” in Spanish
Buenas noches guapo means “Goodnight, handsome” or “Goodnight, good looking” in Spanish. It can be used for men, but you can also describe a woman as guapa.
Even though words like bella and guapo translate as “beautiful”, “pretty” or “handsome” in English, they’re not gender-bound like they are in English. So, when you say guapa, it takes on the meaning of “lovely” even though the literal translation is “handsome”.
“Goodnight Baby” in Spanish
This one is easy to remember. “Goodnight, baby” in Spanish is buenas noches bebe. But Spanish is full of creative , like mi cielito (“my little heaven”) or mi corazón (“my heart”). So you could change it up in many different ways.
If you’re speaking to a child, you could say buenas noches, chiquito or chiquita (“Good night, little boy/girl”).
“Goodnight, Sweet Dreams” in Spanish
To wish someone a good night and sweet dreams, you say buenas noches y dulces sueños. This is a combination of the two phrases from above, but you add y (“and”) to connect them. You could add mi querida or mi querido to the end, which means “my dear”.
There’s another way to say this in Spanish, though. Que sueños con angelitos. This means “Have dreams with angels” and it’s one of those unique expressions in Spanish that give a beautiful image. Who doesn’t want to dream with angels?
“Go to Bed” in Spanish
If you’re talking to a child and need to say “Go to bed!” as a command, you would use ¡Acostarse! It means “lay down”, “turn in” or “go to bed”.
For “I’m going to bed”, you can say Me voy a la cama. Other ways to say it are Ya me voy acostar, or “I’m going to lie down”, and Ya me voy a dormir, “I’m going to sleep.” Ya means “already”, so you’re in the state of action where you’re actually on your way back to your room at that moment. You’re already heading to sleep.
Do you normally say “I’m hitting the hay” instead? Well, you can say something like that, too. Me voy al sobre (“I’m off to the envelope”), and Me voy al baile de las sábanas blancas (“I’m off to the dance of the white sheets”) are a couple unique sayings for “go to bed” in Spanish.
“Bedtime” in Spanish
Is it your bedtime? Then it’s your hora de acostarse. Your “time to turn in”.
Are you feeling sleepy? Then you say, tengo sueño. You can put it together to tell someone you’re tired and ready for bed with Tengo sueño. Es hora de acostarse. (“I’m tired. It’s time to turn in.”)
“Night” in Spanish
As I mentioned earlier, noche is “night” in Spanish. But “evening” in Spanish is also noche. Remember, tarde is afternoon until around 8:00pm in Spanish cultures, and after that, it’s all just noche.
”See You Tomorrow” in Spanish
If you’re saying goodbye, goodnight, and see you tomorrow, you can tell someone Buenas noches. ¡Hasta mañana!
Hasta means “until” and mañana means both “morning” or “tomorrow”, depending on context. So it can mean “Until the morning!” or “Until tomorrow!” in this case. Or, if you aren’t sure when you’re seeing them next, simply say hasta luego (“see you later”) or hasta pronto (“see you soon”).
“Midnight Snack” in Spanish
Are you a midnight feeder? I love a good late night snack myself! Since the Spanish workday is so long, and most Spaniards stay up very late, midnight snacks are an everyday thing for many people. They’re called bocadillo de medianoche (“the snack of midnight”). The most common midnight snack foods in Spain are probably churros and chocolate caliente. Yum!
And Now It’s Time to Say “Buenas Noches”
¿Tienes sueño? (“Are you sleepy?”) You might be after all that studying. Take a break, go lie down, and que tengas dulces sueños.
But if you’re still wide awake, why not try learning good morning and other useful Spanish phrases for the rest of the day?
How do you say “goodnight” in your language? Is there a fun expression you stay instead, like que sueños con angelitos? When is your hora de acostarse? Let me know… in Spanish!
The post “Goodnight” in Spanish (and 30+ other Spanish Evening Phrases) appeared first on Fluent in 3 months - Language Hacking and Travel Tips.
March 24, 2019
How to Learn Croatian: 51 Fast and Free Resources to Learn Croatian and Serbian
Whichever you’re learning you’ve probably run into the same problem I have. Good, affordable, and up-to-date resources are scarce. But learning Croatian or Serbian or BCS and the like doesn’t have to be an insurmountable task. Nor does it need to break the bank.
If you’re learning one of these languages - you’re in the right place.
I’ve searched far and wide for Serbian and Croatian resources to find the best, most fun, and more importantly - free - resources for both.
Learning Croatian, but wondering if Serbian resources will work for you? Or maybe it’s the reverse. Whichever you’re studying, don’t be afraid to try out resources for the other languages. They’re mutually intelligible and so while there are minor differences, you’re sure to pick up a lot of useful information either way.
Ready to learn Croatian fast, and free? Or how about Serbian? Let’s get to it! Here are free Croatian and Serbian resources, regardless of which you’re learning.
Free Online Audio and Podcasts to Help You Learn Croatian and Serbian
Listen to Croatian or Serbian audio in either bite-sized podcasts. Or even dive straight into native-speaking radio stations.
Here’s where to start with Croatian and Serbian language audio:
Glossika is an audio language course and the first 1,000 repetitions are free. They offer both Serbian and Croatian.
Get By In Croatian teaches you just enough Croatian to “get by” in the language whether it’s in a conversation or on a trip. The podcast is available for free on iTunes.
TuneIn Croatia or TuneIn Serbia: You can listen to radio from either Serbia or Croatia on TuneIn. There’s also a Bosnian station. Test out a few stations, see what catches your attention, and enjoy.
YouTube: Free Video Croatian and Serbian Lessons
YouTube is an excellent place to find free Croatian and Serbian language classes and resources. The following channels give you hours of Croatian and Serbian lessons in an engaging medium. Plus, video has the added benefit of letting you see facial expressions, body language and other non-verbal aspects of the Croatian and Serbian languages.
Croatian Language Youtube Channels
Croatian 101 Lesson will help you learn the basics of Croatian with short, helpful videos.
Grgo Petrov : Interested in hearing the different Croatian dialects? You’ll hear sample conversations in several of them on Grgo’s channel.
Easy Languages: I love the Easy Languages channel because it offers you a lot of local culture and context. In the Easy Language series, the hosts go out into the streets of Croatia and interview the people they meet there. It’s a great way to hear the way people really speak the language, pick up useful conversational language, and practice your listening comprehension.
Serbian Language YouTube Channels
Learn Serbian has several thematic and grammar lessons for Serbian learners.
Serbian Lessons offers learners either thematic or grammar lessons on a variety of topics, covering everything from cases to talking about clothes.
Easy Languages has videos for Serbian, too. They’re a useful way to improve your listening comprehension and pick up the language as it’s spoken by people on the street.
Serbian Language Podcast has several 2-3 minute Serbian lessons that cover specific topics or questions. These include asking the question “what kind of..?”, and how to talk about attending an event.
Both Serbian and Croatian YouTube Channels
Serbian Courses : On this channel, Magdalena Petrović Jelić teaches you both Serbian and Croatian. Her videos include both language and culture lessons and are all under ten minutes.
Learn Croatian Serbian Bosnian Montegrin: Are you curious about what it would be like to learn all four languages side by side? This channel does just that, giving you an intro to every language.
Free Online Croatian and Serbian Courses and Systems
If you’re interested in guided lessons, there is an exceptional selection of free online Croatian and Serbian courses and systems available. Here are just a few websites that offer online Croatian and Serbian lessons at no cost:
Surface Languages Croatian and Serbian: Surface Languages offers several topical vocabulary lists with various exercises. You can study everything from food to small talk.
Easy Croatian was one of my go-to resources for Croatian grammar questions when I was learning Croatian and it is one of the best free resources I found for the language. It is essentially a free digital course book.
Live Lingua has two free coursebooks for Serbo-Croatian available to download. They include a lot of useful phrases and vocabulary. They also have books available for Serbian.
Loecsen Croatian and Serbian has almost twenty beginner lessons available to Croatian and Serbian learners. They cover everything from basic greetings to phrases you can use if you find yourself in need of help.
Learn Croatian: Want to learn the basics of Croatian before a trip to Croatia? This site has a useful vocabulary list with audio for free.
Goethe Verlag: On this site, you’ll find several free resources including lessons for Serbian, Bosnian, and Croatian.
BBC Languages is another great resource with introductions to Croatian, Serbian, and Bosnian.
Tatoeba: Looking for useful example sentences in Croatian? Tatoeba has thousands to help you get started.
Free Croatian and Serbian Language Apps
Apps are ideal for those who don’t have the time to sit down and study a language, or who like to study on the go.
Memrise or Anki: Anki(for iOS, for Android, and for everyone else) and Memrise are flashcard systems that you can use to create your own Croatian and Serbian vocabulary decks or download those already created by other users. The desktop version of Anki is free as are both the app and browser versions of Memrise.
Clozemaster is a language learning app the uses cloze (fill in the blank) to help you master new vocabulary in Croatian or Serbian.
Free Online Croatian and Serbian Language Resources for Advanced Croatian and Serbian Learners
Take a Free Online Course in Serbian or Croatian
Online courses and educational videos are a useful way to learn about new topics in Serbian or Croatian. If you’d like to use Croatian and Serbian to learn more about something you’re passionate in, one of these resources could be a useful way to do two things at once.
Ted Talks in Serbian or Croatian
Ted Talks are a powerful way to learn new things in bite-sized chunks. Most talks are between 10-20 minutes long and are presented so that they keep your attention from start to finish.
Croatian Ted Talks
Bosnian Ted Talks
Serbian Ted Talks
Serbo-Croatian Ted Talks
Watch Croatian and Serbian Vloggers on YouTube
If you’re looking for native and relevant material for your Croatian and Serbian language learning, YouTubers are a great source. Croatian and Serbian vloggers cover everything from comedy to beauty to food, so you’re sure to find a YouTube personality who covers a topic that you’re interested in.
Here are a few of my favorites:
An Na is an artist and vlogger. She has a variety of videos on her channels and many of her songs include the lyrics written out in the video description.
Nugato: Do you enjoy watching gameplay videos? Nugato streams his watch me videos regularly and offers humorous commentary.
Sašina Kuhinja: If you like food and think you might be ready to try out a new recipe in your new language, Sašina Kuhinja is a video recipe channel. But don’t worry! The video includes the recipe instructions in English, too. Plus, you can get a link to the recipe in the description box in case you miss a step.
Safari Duha is a lifestyle blogger from Croatia who documents her life and offers tons of advice in her videos.
Recepti Brigita Husic: If you enjoy sweets, this one is for you. Brigita Husic teaches you how to make a variety of desserts on this channel.
Dennis Domain is a vlogger who covers a variety of topics. Everything from scary stories to commentary and even mukbang.
thelazyWAVE is hosted by a pair of vloggers, Davor Gerbus and Petra Dimić, from Zagreb, Croatia. They too cover a variety of topics, from car karaoke to commentary videos including “LJUDI NA PLAŽAMA” (“People at the Beach”).
Jana Dačović: If haul and/or beauty videos are more your style, Jana Dačović’s channel may have something for you. She also talks about things like her favorite holidays, so it’s a good step into more advanced resources.
Mudja is a popular gamer with more than a million subscribers. He posts gameplay videos and reviews different video games in Serbian.
Yasstertain is a collective of vloggers who release a variety of videos, including a language challenge video where they speak quite a few languages.
Free Croatian and Serbian Language Reading Materials
Croatian and Serbian each use their own alphabet, so reading practice is important when you’re learning. Finding material appropriate for your level in the language can be a challenge. Wikipedia comes in handy here! I recommend you use Wikipedia to read short articles in Croatian and Serbian, then switch back to your native language to check your comprehension.
What Free Online Croatian and Serbian Resources Do You Use?
There are many excellent resources are available to learn Croatian and Serbian at no cost online. Though I’ve featured 51 places you can learn Croatian and Serbian for free, I’m sure there are many more. Let me know which ones you like!
The post How to Learn Croatian: 51 Fast and Free Resources to Learn Croatian and Serbian appeared first on Fluent in 3 months - Language Hacking and Travel Tips.
March 21, 2019
WTF is Mukbang and Why Should You Watch these Viral Korean Videos? An Explainer
Thousands of people are watching these Korean videos, called “mukbang.”
What’s a mukbang? It’s a YouTube trend from South Korea that started around 2010. In a mukbang video, the YouTuber or BJ (“Broadcast Jockey,” a unique-to-Korea term for a vlogger) eats loads of food while narrating and interacting with their audience. While the craze started in South Korea, it’s migrated across the world.
Here’s how it’s trended on Google search over the past five years:
And believe it or not, these food-crazed YouTube stars are making a lot of money eating food!
If you’re ready to dive deep into the world of mukbang, then here’s what you need to know about the viral Korean trend.
What is Mukbang??
If you’ve heard about or stumbled across a mukbang video, you may have several pressing questions on your mind. What does mukbang mean? How do you define mukbang? And why is it called “mukbang” in the first place?
Well, mukbang is a portmanteau word (a mix of two words smushed together). It comes from muk-ja for “eating” and bang-song for “broadcast.” So, mukbang means “eating broadcast.”
The mukbang pronunciation is a bit tricky to get right. Most Western Mukbangers pronounce it exactly as it looks: “muck-bang.” But, in Korean, it’s pronounced “mook-bong” or “moak-bahng.” You’ll also see it romanized sometimes as meokbang.
Mukbang is usually defined as a live-streamed eating show where the host binge-eats. But it can be more than that. Sometimes, the host cooks the food on camera first, then eats it. Some videos feature noisy sound effects and descriptions of the food, while other videos show the host eating quietly. They almost always show the host throwing down food like it’s a food eating contest. But sometimes they only eat something small and delicious.
Mukbang are usually live-streamed on a Korean platform called AfreecaTV. Viewers can leave comments in real time and encourage the host to eat more or mix it with something else. But it’s since migrated to other video and streaming platforms, like YouTube. There you’ll find Mukbangers all over the world who have uploaded videos instead of sharing live.
If this seems strange and confusing, it’s basically the food porn version of a “shopping haul” video. These types of videos have trended for years on YouTube where the vlogger pulls out all their shopping bags and shares their “haul.” They go through each item and why they bought it.
It’s also not that different from American cooking shows, and the enjoyment we get from those. The difference is, in America, the priority is on the process of cooking with only a little time at the end where the host actually tries the food. In South Korea, cooking shows actually spend much more time showing the host eating the food after cooking.
And thus, mukbang came into popularity, where the host shares their “food haul.” They’ll share where they got it, and then eat it while viewers watch on.
And their audiences do watch -- for as long as an hour!
All That Noise! All That Food!
One of the biggest aspects of mukbang is the noise. They purposefully use exaggerated noises to capture the sounds of eating, drinking, biting, chewing, and more. While that can be uncomfortable for some (it is for me!), this is another growing genre of video trends: ASMR videos. ASMR stands for “autonomous sensory meridian response.” That’s a fancy way of saying you enjoy relaxing to the sounds of every life, from the sound of eating to the sound of brushing hair.
You can see this in action for yourself here:
httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x-UlF_93fBw
What’s interesting about Korean mukbang videos is they are funded by audience donations. YouTubers in America make their income through ad revenue and sponsorships. Korean BJs make most of their money while live-streaming and being sent “gifts” or donations of money.
And most of these hosts, especially native Koreans, are attractive and thin, which is part of the appeal. Since the BJs consume as many as 4,000+ calories in one sitting, many of the hosts go to extreme lengths to make up for it. One mukbang star, Banzz, has said he exercises up to 12 hours a day to keep his weight down.
Despite that, the trend keeps growing with more people who think mukbang is worth it for the followers.
How did Mukbang Originate?
What is the purpose of a mukbang and how did it originate? Mukbang originated on the live-streaming platform AfreecaTV in 2010.
It grew in popularity because it’s a stark contrast to Korean societal and gender norms, as well as food etiquette.
Food culture runs deep in Korea. And many people theorize mukbang began thanks to increasing loneliness of single Koreans in a digital age. In South Korea, eating out is mostly a social activity, and it’s rare to eat alone. But, with a growing number of Koreans living alone, they became lonely and turned to social media. So, this may be a reason why Mukbangers began to film themselves for others, and why viewers enjoy watching them eat. Especially live, where they can leave comments and interact.
This isn’t strange in Korea since mobile streaming and digital services like WiFi are so much more advanced. They’re always able to get the highest quality content at the touch of a finger. It’s changed the way social interactions happen. So some think that mukbang is an example of the digital shift away from traditional, person-to-person social activities.
That said, you also have to consider the deep-rooted history of food for Koreans. As this Korean blogger points out, it may have less to do with loneliness and more to do with enjoyment of seeing someone else’s enjoyment. And like anywhere in the world, people enjoy watching others enjoy the food they made. It’s a simple joy to take happiness from watching someone else be happy.
Plus, shortages of food from the wartimes are still very present in the minds of many Koreans, even though there is plenty of food now. They still remember those times or remember hearing about it from relatives, and their food culture has been shaped by that. And now, South Korea has an obsession with health and maintaining a thin weight. So, why mukbang is popular comes down to enjoying what they once did not have, and satisfying their own cravings by living vicariously through others.
In fact, that last point became such a worry by the Korean government, that they issued a health warning against mukbang. Worried about food disorders from both extreme binging and extreme deprivation through watching others eat, the government set guidelines for mukbang shows.
The Mukbang Challenge
Once it hit the West, mukbang became more commonly known as the “Mukbang Challenge.” These YouTube video shows share people eating tons of food in a certain time limit. It takes mukbang and adds a food eating contest aspect to the videos. Sometimes the challenge is less time based and more quantity or intensity based, like eating a ridiculous amount of spicy noodles.
The Mukbang Challenge usually features ramen or other large noodle bowls, where the host eats anywhere from 5 to 15 packets of noodles. Get ready for lots of slurping!
How to Learn Korean with Mukbang
So how do you use mukbang to learn Korean? Well, mukbang can actually be a useful tool for learning. It often features young, trendy hosts using the most current slang and language.
You’ll pick up how to describe food in painstaking detail, and you’ll never forget your vocab for the food after this. Plus, the uniqueness of mukbang makes it stick in your memory more than hearing it from a textbook. The specific topic (food and eating) gives you easy context to infer words. That makes it simpler to listen and understand than, say, a popular K-Drama.
One of the first places you can start when learning Korean is 90 Day Korean Inner Circle. It’s the best way to learn Korean fast, having a conversation in as little as 90 days. And you’ll use the 80/20 principle to memorize all the essentials of the language to get you going. They even have a module dedicated to learning slang and understanding dramas and videos like this. So it’s perfect to prepare.
Then, you can find the best mukbang videos and live-streams at AfreecaTV. Since this is where it all started, it’s where you’ll find the most current trends.
But, there’s also mukbang channels on YouTube to check out. Mukbangers like:
Banzz
Mbro
Dorothy
Hong Sound
Nareum TV
Tzuyang
When watching the shows, try to watch once without any help. Then you can try turning on subtitles in Korean to help you understand (especially if their mouth was full!). Look up words you don’t know, and then try saying out loud to yourself what happened in the video. What did they eat? How did they describe the taste? This way, it sticks in your memory!
A Few Mukbang Phrases to Know
You know all about mukbang now, so let’s prepare with some food vocab and phrases. Here are some to get you started:
식사 (sigsa) - Meal
반찬 (banchan) - Side dish
식품 (sigpum) - Food
음주 (eumju) - Drink
해물 (haemul) - Seafood
고기 (gogi) - Meat
돼지 고기 (dwae-ji gogi) - Pork
김치 (kimchi) - Kimchi
야채 (yachae) - Vegetables
국수 (gugsu) - Noodles
잘 먹겠습니다 (jal meoggess-seubnida) - “Bon appetit”
잘 먹었습니다 (jal meog-eossseubnida) - “I ate well”, “The meal was good” or “Thank you for this meal”
배고파 (baegopa) - “I’m hungry”
나는 전체 해요 (naneun jeonche haeyo) - “I’m full”
You’ll also want to know your Korean greetings like 안녕하세요 (annyeong haseyo), because most videos start out with these phrases.
Over to You!
Is mukbang your style? Do you enjoy these audio-sensory videos to learn Korean? It’s a different change of pace from other popular Korean shows!
If you’re ready to learn more Korean, check out our favorite online Korean resources and 90 Day Korean Inner Circle to make the most of your Korean fast.
다음 시간까지!! (Daeume sigankkaji, “Until next time!”)
The post WTF is Mukbang and Why Should You Watch these Viral Korean Videos? An Explainer appeared first on Fluent in 3 months - Language Hacking and Travel Tips.
March 17, 2019
14 Ways to Say Goodbye in Japanese
Yes, さようなら (sayounara) is goodbye in Japanese in the literal sense. But, unlike what Hollywood would have you believe, Japanese people almost never use it. In fact, it can lead to a bit of confusion or awkwardness if you end your conversation with さようなら.
The reason is さようなら is like saying “goodbye forever.” It’s almost as formal as saying “farewell” in Japanese, with a stronger sense of finality. On Japanese TV shows, the only time you hear it is if someone is saying goodbye to a loved one who passed away, or to someone they will never see again. So, it’s very strong. In fact, younger generations in Japan say they never use the word at all because it makes them feel sad.
So what’s the best way to say goodbye in Japanese? It depends on the situation. There are a few ways that are almost always acceptable, while other set Japanese phrases are best for situations like saying goodbye to colleagues at work.
Let’s learn how to say goodbye in Japanese… the natural way!
1. “See ya” in Japanese - Ja ne
The most common, natural way to say goodbye in Japanese is actually to say じゃあね (Ja ne, “See ya!”).
For a language that prides itself on formality, this may seem a bit casual, but think about how you say goodbye in English most of the time. Most often, it’s to friends and family, or coworkers at the same level as you. You would say "see ya" to them, but to a boss, you might say "I'm clocking out now. I'll be in tomorrow at 8." as a way of goodbye. The same is true in Japanese.
This phrase is most common because you say it often to those closest to you. But, you wouldn’t say it to your boss or teacher. There are other phrases that are more formal for that.
2. “Bye” in Japanese - Baibai
This one is easy: バイバイ (baibai, “bye bye”). It’s said the same as in English, and it's another common, casual way to say goodbye. It’s used more often by women, though, to sound かわいい (kawaii, “cute”).
3. “See you later” in Japanese - Mate ne
A slight variation on じゃあね is またね (mata ne) or じゃあまたね (ja mata ne). This means “Later” in Japanese, or “Well, see you later!”
Again, it’s casual, so you’ll use it with friends, family, and people in your same social circle. But it’s very natural, and you’ll hear it often.
You can say ではまたね (dewa mata ne) or また近いうちにね (mata chikai uchi ni ne) for “See you soon” in Japanese. But またね essentially means the same thing, and it's used both as "see you later" and "see you soon."
4. “See you tomorrow” in Japanese - Mata ashita
To be more specific when you’ll see someone next, you can add the “when.” For “See you tomorrow!” in Japanese, you say また明日 (mata ashita).
You can change 明日 to whenever you’ll see them next, like また来週 (mata raishuu, “See you next week”). Similarly, you could say “Until then” with それまで、じゃあね (Sore made, ja ne).
5. “I’m leaving” in Japanese - Itte kimasu
There’s a specific way to say goodbye when you’re leaving your house: 行って来ます (itte kimasu), which translates to “I’ll go and come back” or “I’ll be back.” When someone says this to you when they leave, the proper response back is 行ってらっしゃい (itterasshai). It means “go and come back safely” or “be safe!”
It’s not really formal or informal, but you usually only say it when leaving your own home.
6. “Excuse me for leaving before you” - Osaki ni shitsureshimasu
Here’s your formal phrase for leaving work. You’ll say this to your boss and coworkers, and it’s always polite. When you leave work, say お先に失礼します (osaki ni shitsureshimasu). It means “excuse me for leaving before you.”
It’s said as an apology for leaving any work left to those staying behind, but even if the work's finished and others are still there, you say this. It’s just polite. If you’re talking to your coworkers, you can then add じゃあね or また明日.
7. “Thank you for your hard work” - Otsukaresama deshita
Yes, this is a way to say goodbye in Japanese! When someone says お先に失礼します, you say goodbye by replying お疲れ様でした (otsukaresama deshita). It stems from the word 疲れた (tsukareta), meaning “tired.” So the whole phrase translates to something like “you must be tired.” But it’s really used to say “thank you for your hard work” or “good job.”
In fact, you can use the casual form お疲れ (otsukare) to tell someone “good job” or “wow, you worked hard.” For instance, if a friend told you they spoke Japanese for a whole day, their brain might feel a bit weary after all that! So you say "お疲れ" to acknowledge they worked hard until fatigued, and that they did well.
8. “Thank you for everything” - Osewa ni narimasu
Another business expression to use as a goodbye phrase. This one is best when talking to a client or someone at work who has helped you.
お世話になります (osewa ni narimasu) translates as “thank you for everything” but has a nuance of “thank you for taking care of me and supporting me” as well. If someone helped you with a big task at work, you would definitely make sure to thank them with お世話になります or お世話になりました (osewa ni narimashita, past tense) before you leave for the day.
But, there’s a more formal phrase you use when thanking a client for their continued business. It’s いつもお世話になっております (itsumo osewa ni natte orimasu). This is the humblest form of speech, and means “thank you always for your continued support.” You’d use this to end a phone call with a client, or at the end of a business meeting, as a way of goodbye.
9. “Take care” in Japanese - Ki wo tsukete
To say “take care” in Japanese, you would use 気を付けて (ki wo tsukete). It also has a meaning of “be safe.” It’s appropriate in almost all situations, and it’s often used as a goodbye to say “Be careful going home.” You might use this one more often if, say, you’re parting ways late at night or the weather isn’t great.
10. “Stay well” - O-genki de
Another way to say goodbye in Japanese that can be used in most situations is お元気で (o-genki de). It means “stay well” or “all the best.”
It’s a bit on the formal side, although you can still say it with friends, especially if you may not see them for a little bit. It’s common to say this as a goodbye when leaving for a vacation or holiday break, to anyone you might not see for a few weeks, or if it’s flu season and you’re wishing someone to stay healthy.
11. “Get well soon” in Japanese - Odaiji ni
Like お元気で, you can use お大事に (odaiji ni) as a parting expression. お大事に means “Get well soon” or “Feel better soon” in Japanese. If you visited the doctor because you’re sick, the doctor would say this instead of goodbye. Plus, you can use this with friends, coworkers, or anyone who is leaving because they don’t feel well, or to end a phone conversation with someone under the weather.
12. “Thank you for having me over” - Ojama shimashita
When you arrive at someone’s home in Japan, it’s polite to say お邪魔します (ojama shimasu). It literally means “I’m bothering you,” but it's used to say “excuse me for intruding.” You say it no matter the circumstances when entering someone else’s home, even if the visit is planned and they’re expecting you.
The same is true when you leave! You use the same expression in past tense to say goodbye: お邪魔しました (ojama shimashita). Even though it still means “I bothered you,” the more accurate translation to English would be “thank you for having me over!” So always make sure to thank your host with this phrase as a way to say goodbye.
13. “Farewell” in Japanese - Saraba
In Japanese, you might say さらば (saraba) or お別れ (owakare) for “farewell,” but it’s almost never used. About the only way you hear “farewell” is in the word 送別会 (soubetsukai, “farewell party.” Soubetsu refers to the farewell parting itself, not the saying).
The closest word would actually be さようなら because it has the same sense of finality that “farewell” has in English.
14. “Have a good day” in Japanese - Tanoshinde ne
You could say よい一日をお過ごしください (Yoi tsuitachi wo o-sugoshi kudasai) for “have a good day” in Japanese. But, it’s not very common to say this. It’s much more natural to say 楽しんでね (tanoshinde ne) or 楽しんできてね (tanoshinde kite ne), both of which mean “have fun.”
You can use this expression in the same way you would “have a good day” in English, but it sounds more like natural Japanese than よい一日をお過ごしください.
How Will You Say “Goodbye” in Japanese?
Which phrases will you use to say goodbye? Did I miss any you use to part ways in Japanese? Let me hear them below in the comments!
Now that you know how to end your conversation, are you ready to find a language exchange partner? Or how about mastering the core 101 Japanese words to level up your skills fast? I’d love to hear what you want to learn next on your Japanese language journey!
皆さん、頑張ってね! (“Good luck, everyone!”)
The post 14 Ways to Say Goodbye in Japanese appeared first on Fluent in 3 months - Language Hacking and Travel Tips.
March 14, 2019
Learn Greek Online: 39 Free Resources and Classes to Learn the Greek Language
That’s where I come in. I assembled this article because I’ve done the work for you. I went searching for the best Greek learning tools online. And the good news? They’re all free.
Here’s a look at these Greek language resources and classes so you can learn Greek online, for free.
Free Online Audio and Podcasts to Help You Learn Greek Free
Tired of not understanding what you hear in Greek?
Listening comprehension is often tough for language learners, that’s why I recommend doing a lot of active listening. But where do you find good quality audio lessons in Greek?
First, podcasts are a fun way to learn Greek. You can take them with you wherever you go -- on a quiet stroll in the park or even out to lunch with you while you grab some gyros. Whenever you have a spare moment, you can squeeze in some language learning.
There are many Greek language podcasts out there, but not a lot that provide a complete Greek course. I personally enjoy podcasts that provide step-by-step Greek lessons. I also think it’s important to listen to Greek as it’s spoken in real conversations
Here’s where to start with Greek language audio:
GreekPod101 is free to sign up for and is a favorite of the Fluent in 3 Months team. It has an impressive amount of Greek content available at every level from complete beginner to advanced. You get a one-week free trial to test out lessons at all skill levels. After that, you do have to pay for the more advanced lessons and premium material, although it’s very much worth it.
TuneIn Greek: You can listen to radio direct from Greece on TuneIn. Try out a few stations based on the subjects you’re interested in, see what grabs your attention and enjoy. You can even download the app to enjoy radio on your mobile device.
Forvo: If you come across a new word, especially with Greek since you need to learn a new writing system, Forvo is a great place to listen to words spoken by a native speaker. It has a large database and is a good reference for pronunciation.
Learning Greek Podcasts: The Hellenic American Union has this free Greek podcast available on their website. It also provides learners with a transcript of each lesson.
YouTube: Free Greek Video Lessons
YouTube is a handy place to find free Greek classes and resources. The following channels give you hours of Greek lessons in an entertaining format. Plus, video has the added bonus of helping you begin to understand the facial expressions, body language and other non-verbal aspects of the Greek language.
GreekPod101: In addition to their free podcast lessons, GreekPod101 also has an excellent YouTube channel with hours of free content.
Super Easy Greek: I love the Easy Languages channel because it gives you a look at the local culture and offers you context. In this series, the hosts go out into the streets of Greece and interview the people they meet there. It’s a great way to hear the way people really speak the language, pick up useful conversational language, and practice your listening comprehension.
Greek 123: This Youtube channel is no longer active, but their archive of videos includes a lot of great learning material for Greek learners including basic dialogues.
Learn Greek with Lina: In these videos, Lina gives you an introduction to the Greek language with bite-sized grammar and vocabulary lessons.
Free Online Greek Courses, Systems and Online Tools
If you’re looking for guided lessons or tools to help you learn Greek, here’s where to start. These websites and apps offer online Greek learning at no cost:
An Introduction to Modern Greek: Greek taught to learners by a fellow learner. The author, J. David Eisenberg, put together his notes from a Greek class he took to help other Greek students.
Wikibooks offers Modern Greek language learners a free online coursebook.
Live Lingua: There are several free courses in Greek on Live Lingua, a database of Peace Corps and FSI coursebooks and audio materials.
Goethe Verlag has 100 free lessons for Greek language learners. They cover everything from numbers to preparing for a trip and running errands.
BBC Languages: Looking for a fantastic introduction to the Greek language with video and tons of accompanying material? The BBC’s Greek course has it all.
Cooljugator: Need help conjugating verbs in Greek? This tool can help you master Greek verb conjugations.
I Kinda Like Languages: This blog is run by Linas, who also happens to be the mastermind behind Interlinear Books and Cooljugator. It has a free course to help you learn the Greek alphabet.
Learn Greek: This website was put together by a group of contributors to help Greek learners take their Greek language level from beginner to advanced.
Greeklish to Greek: Know how to write something in romanization but aren’t quite sure how to write it using the Greek alphabet? This tool will help you convert your romanized notes into the Greek writing system.
Ask Greek: Have a question about the Greek language? There’s a good chance it’s been answered here. And if it hasn’t, you’re free to ask!
The Online Greek Tutor is an online tutoring site, but their blog has tons of free Greek learning material.
Free Greek Language Apps
Apps are a convenient way to learn a new language, especially for those who prefer to study on the go.
Memrise or Anki (for iOS, for Android, and for everyone else): These are flashcard systems that you can use to create your own Greek vocabulary decks or download those already created by other users. The desktop version of Anki is free, as is the basic version of Memrise.
Duolingo is a popular language learning app that introduces you to both Greek vocabulary and grammar. It’s a gamified platform, so it’s fun to use and addictive, so you’ll keep coming back to learn more.
Clozemaster is a language learning app that uses cloze (fill in the blank) to help you master new vocabulary in Greek.
Free Online Greek Language Resources for Advanced Greek Learners
Ted Talks in Greek
Ted Talks in Greek: Ted Talks are a powerful way to learn new things in bite-sized chunks. Most talks are between 10-20 minutes and are presented so that they keep your attention from start to finish.
Watch Greek Vloggers on YouTube
If you’re looking for native and relevant material for your Greek language learning, YouTubers are a good place to start. Greek vloggers cover everything from comedy to beauty to food, so you’re sure to find a YouTube personality who covers a topic that you’re interested in.
Here are a few of my favorites:
Mara Samartzi is a lifestyle vlogger with tons of videos in conversational Greek.
Mary Sinatsaki got started posting dance videos, but has more recently started posting more lifestyle and fashion videos.
i Mikri Ollandeza is another lifestyle vlogger who posts challenges, haul videos, and more.
2J has a wide selection of hilarious videos. Just be warned - some of the language isn’t kid friendly.
Cat Von K: Looking for comedic pop culture commentary videos? Cat Von K’s channel has exactly that in Greek.
Unboxaholics: Want gameplay videos or tech reviews? This channel’s just for you.
Free Greek Language Reading Materials
Finding reading material appropriate for your level in the language can be a challenge. Thankfully, there’s a good selection of Greek reading resources available to you as a learner online for free. Here are just a few:
Wikipedia: Use Wikipedia to read short articles in Greek. You can switch back to your native language to check your comprehension.
LingQ: LingQ is a popular online learning system that helps you acquire new vocabulary through its reading interface. It’s free to sign up, though if you want to use it long-term you’ll need to opt for a paid plan.
Paralleltext.io: This unassuming website lets you read the classics like Sherlock Holmes with the Greek and English text side-by-side on the screen! Click a sentence to hear it pronounced by a computer voice. Tap the circle next to a sentence to change it from Greek to English and back. Switch from a side-by-side English/Greek view to Greek-only if your reading skills are more advanced.
What Free Online Greek Resources Do You Use?
There are numerous resources available to learn Greek free online. Though I’ve featured 39 places you can learn Greek without spending a cent, I’m sure there are many more. Is there anything you think that I’ve missed? Let me know!
Want More? Check out Benny's favorite Greek resources.
The post Learn Greek Online: 39 Free Resources and Classes to Learn the Greek Language appeared first on Fluent in 3 months - Language Hacking and Travel Tips.
March 10, 2019
Fluent in 3 years?! What I Learned From a 1,033 Day Duolingo Streak — Plus How to Actually Learn a Language Fast
That’s learning every day for 1,033 days—24,792 hours. When thought about it, I should have felt proud. Don’t they say that it takes 10,000 hours to master something? But I didn’t feel like a master.
Studying for 1,033 days meant almost three years of Spanish learning. But I wasn’t even fluent after those three years…
After reading about Benny’s approach to learning a language in three months, three years seemed like a long time. Too long.
In my first three years learning Spanish, I was dedicated. I increased my vocabulary. Got decent at reading and writing. But I couldn’t understand anyone speaking naturally. The phrase ¿Puede hablar más despacio, por favor? (“Can you speak more slowly, please?”) was my best friend.
Three years and I was stuck around lower intermediate level.
How did this happen?
My conclusion is that I got stuck at this level because I’m so good at studying.
What?
How I Broke My Duolingo Streak and Started Actually Learning Spanish
I spent three years steadily floating along a Spanish plateau. Why? Because instead of thinking critically about my goals, I let Duolingo set my goals for me. The allure of gamification gave me a feeling of daily progress. All I had to do was put my time in and I’d get rewarded.
Really, it was too easy.
But why did I want to learn Spanish anyway?
Like most other successful language learners, I wanted to be able to listen and speak—to communicate with the people around me.
It turns out learning new vocabulary spoken by a robot and always with a transcript, wasn’t actually getting me there.
It was time to go back to first principles and define what I wanted to accomplish so that I could make progress on my terms. I researched the most effective ways to set goals and stay motivated and realized I needed to replace Duolingo with new routines.
That was the day I broke my streak and started actually learning Spanish.
Here’s What I Did to Learn Real Spanish While Still Getting the “Fix” of a Streak
Luckily, ending my Duolingo streak gave me plenty of time to explore better approaches to learning Spanish. Even assuming that I was just spending five minutes a day, three years of effort is nearly 90 hours!
I decided that if I wanted to speak and understand Spanish, I needed to focus on two things:
Listen to Spanish (a lot)
Speak Spanish (at least a little)
As an introvert, listening was much easier for me. In fact, Duolingo had a lot of listening. So why wasn’t it helping?
After doing some more research, I realized there were a few reasons:
Grammar practice wasn’t exposing me to all the most important Spanish words
I needed to hear a variety of accents, spoken at a natural speed
Most importantly, the app was mainly focusing on single words and sentences are different
Here’s what I did to change what I was doing:
I started to make progress by learning the 5,000 most frequently used Spanish words in Memrise, a spaced repetition system (SRS) app with a focus on listening.
This new approach helped to build up my vocabulary faster and exposed me to more Spanish accents, as spoken by real people. Also, the daily cadence of an SRS was similar to Duolingo, so it was my natural tendency to stick with it. This was an improvement, but not the whole answer.
Why not?
The main reason is that hearing single words does not teach you how to listen. Connected speech just doesn’t sound the same as single, well-pronounced words. Consider “going to” and “gonna” in English. You’re not going to learn “gonna” unless you hear it in a full sentence!
Similarly, in Spanish, I was learning what words meant, but I never practiced identifying how they sound in full sentences. In fast speech, words get connected together, syllables get dropped, and even the pronunciation of certain sounds can change. For example, va a andar (“he is going to walk”) becomes vandar and hard bs start to sound more and more like vs, at least to my ear. I wasn’t learning any of these nuances one word at a time.
To get sentence level practice, Glossika was key. Over the course of 300 sessions, I got exposure to over a thousand full sentences, spoken at natural speed by a native speaker.
Glossika’s audio-first approach also taught me to stop relying so much on transcripts, which can become a crutch. They also do some cool things to expose you to different types of grammar. But for me it was really just the amount of comprehensible input that made a difference. By the end of the program, I could understand spoken speech much, much better.
But because Glossika wasn’t gamified, I initially struggled to stick with it and make progress every day.
Enter Beeminder, a website that not only allows you to set gamified goals for yourself, but also to strengthen those goals by putting real money on the line. It seems ridiculous, but the threat of losing $5 if I lost my streak forced me to establish a really solid Glossika habit. Every morning, Glossika was the first thing I did, and every day I felt like I was making progress again.
Within a year, I’d learned the 5,000 most common words in Spanish, and I’d completed Glossika Spanish. But then I started to get bored...
I’d Finished Glossika and Memrise - What Next?
Word and sentence lists based on usage frequency and grammar patterns are efficient, but they can be pretty dry.
Fortunately, I found that I had enough listening comprehension to dive into much more interesting Spanish material. Recall that my goal is communication. That meant it was a great time to start communicating about things that mattered to me. This newfound meaning and interest was another boost to my motivation.
With the strong Spanish foundation I’d built, I found I could expand my listening practice naturally. The two things that worked best for me were simultaneously reading and listening to a Harry Potter audiobook in Spanish and watching Club de Cuervos on Netflix, supported with Spanish subtitles when the going got tough.
Honestly, anything would have worked as long as it involved listening to natural speech and had good transcripts to fall back on. It was very frustrating to watch movies where the subtitles didn’t match the audio very closely. In my experience, audiobooks and Netflix original programming don’t have this problem.
Once you know how to listen to connected speech, the world opens up and you can learn vocabulary the way native speakers do—by reading and listening to things you find interesting. I didn’t bother to make SRS flashcards to remember the words I learned, but you certainly could if you had the time and wanted to supercharge your language acquisition.
One final benefit is that when you choose material that’s relevant to you, you learn words that you’re more likely to use. You don’t need to learn many words to understand 80% of what you hear, but you need far more to get to 90% (or higher). The best way to combat these diminishing returns is to focus on words that are important to you.
How to Gamify “Speak from Day One”
Benny encourages you to speak from day one. I agree in principle, but in practice, this was by far the hardest part for me. As an introvert, I found speaking to be hugely taxing on my motivation. I can look at flashcards for hours, but a 15-minute conversation makes me want to sleep the rest of the day!
Here, my gamify everything approach won out in the end. I simply broke my quest to find a language partner into a bunch of tiny steps and used Beeminder to force myself to make progress each day. I mean, things as small as:
Sign up for italki
Message one person today
Do a 10-minute introductory conversation
It was tough to get out of my comfort zone, but once I found the right partner, it was simply a matter of setting a goal to do one exchange per week and never breaking the chain!
I recognize now that I should be speaking to more people, with different interests, accents, and points of view. But I can also look back proudly and say that I did manage to have at least 40 substantial Spanish conversations this year without traveling or doing some other kind of more extreme immersion.
While getting to fluency can be a sprint, meaningful communication is a lifelong endeavor.
Fluent in 3 years?
Here I am a year later, having made more progress in 12 months than I made in the previous 36—fluent by Benny’s definition in that I can listen and communicate comfortably. I still have plenty of words learn and grammar to perfect, but I can converse!
More importantly, I know what I need to do to reach my next level of fluency: regularly reassess my goals, adjust my language input in service of those goals, and use my “don’t break the chain” method to keep chipping away at it. I just need to be careful not to turn “don’t break the chain” into “chain yourself to something that isn’t helping anymore.”
How I Broke My Duolingo Addiction
In summary, I broke my Duolingo addiction and went from:
Learning single words to learning whole sentences (or stories)
Focusing on grammar to focusing on frequency and relevance
Reading a lot to prioritizing listening in every practice session
Watching an arbitrary number of days in my streak go up to goal based self-evaluation
Playing a game to gamifying everything
It turns out that the means are the end. Set your goals first, then align your practice around them. Don’t let your practice define your goals.
I wish you every success in learning Spanish. ¡Buena suerte!
The post Fluent in 3 years?! What I Learned From a 1,033 Day Duolingo Streak — Plus How to Actually Learn a Language Fast appeared first on Fluent in 3 months - Language Hacking and Travel Tips.
March 7, 2019
Learn Hebrew for Free: 42 Resources and Classes to Learn Hebrew Online
There are loads of Hebrew courses out there, so if you’re learning to speak Hebrew, it can feel like you spend more time trying to figure out what resources are good quality than you are learning the language!
Ready for some good news? I’ve put this article together because I’ve done the work for you. I’ve tried out several Hebrew learning tools to find the best ones out there. And the best part? You can use any of them to learn Hebrew for free.
Let’s take a look at these online Hebrew language resources and classes so you can learn Hebrew online.
Learn Hebrew Online with Hebrew Audio and Podcasts
Listening comprehension is often a challenge for language learners, which is why I recommend getting lots of listening practice. But where do you find good quality audio lessons in Hebrew?
To start, podcasts are a handy way to learn Hebrew. You can take them with you wherever you go -- they can accompany as you wait in line, as you commute, or even while you go out for a walk. Anytime you have a spare moment, you can fit in some language learning.
There are many Hebrew language podcasts out there, but only a few provide a complete Hebrew course. I prefer podcasts that provide a step-by-step Hebrew class. I also think it’s good to listen to Hebrew as it’s spoken in real conversations
Here’s where to start with Hebrew language audio:
HebrewPod101 is free to sign up for and is a favorite of the Fluent in 3 Months team. It has an impressive amount of Hebrew content available at every level from complete beginner to advanced. You get a one-week free trial to test out lessons at all skill levels. After that, you do have to pay for the more advanced lessons and premium material, although it’s very much worth it.
TuneIn: Listen to radio in Hebrew on TuneIn. Test out a few stations based on the subjects you’re interested in, see what catches your attention and enjoy. Download the app to enjoy radio on your mobile device.
Forvo: If you come across a new word, especially with Hebrew which has its own writing system and vowels that were traditionally unwritten, Forvo is a great place to listen to words spoken by a native speaker. It has a large database and is a good reference for pronunciation.
Streetwise Hebrew: In each episode of Streetwise Hebrew, a specific word and its different uses are featured. It’s great for picking up everyday Hebrew as it is spoken on the streets of Israel.
YouTube: Free Hebrew Video Lessons
YouTube is an incredible place to find free Hebrew classes and resources. The following channels give you hours of Hebrew lessons in an entertaining format. Plus, video has the added benefits of giving you access to facial expressions, body language and other non-verbal aspects of the Hebrew language.
HebrewPod101: In addition to their free podcast lessons, HebrewPod101 also has an excellent YouTube channel with hours of free content.
Easy Hebrew: I love the Easy Languages channel because it gives you a look at the local culture and offers you context. In this series, the hosts go out into the streets and interview the people they meet. It’s spontaneous and a fun way to hear the way people really speak the language, pick up useful conversational language, and improve your listening comprehension.
Rosen School of Hebrew features several “word of the day” videos and many other Hebrew language lessons.
Hebrewpodcasts : Another great channel with many free Hebrew lessons.
Miiko Shaffier has posted several live videos packed with Hebrew language learning tips. And while the channel doesn’t appear be active at the moment, but there’s still a lot to learn from her video archive.
Hebrew for Beginners : This channel is true to its name - it has several videos for beginner Hebrew learners covering everything from the writing system to basic vocabulary and grammar.
Learn Arabic with Maha : I featured Maha in my post of the best free Arabic learning resources, but her channel also has several helpful basic Hebrew lessons.
Free Online Hebrew Courses, Systems and Tools
If you’re interested in guided lessons, there is a good selection of free online Hebrew courses and systems available. Here are just a few websites that offer online Hebrew lessons at no cost, plus some Hebrew tools you’ll find useful:
Glossika is an audio language course and the first 1,000 repetitions are free. It uses spaced-repetition to help you learn useful Hebrew phrases.
Pealim is a free Hebrew verb conjugator and reference site.
Goethe Verlag has 100 free lessons for Hebrew language learners. They cover everything from numbers to preparing for a trip and running errands.
Live Lingua: There is one free FSI Hebrew course on Live Lingua, a database of Peace Corps and FSI coursebooks and audio materials.
Wikibooks offers Hebrew language learners a free online coursebook.
Hebrew Podcasts has dozens if not hundreds of lessons available on their site. You can browse the lessons by level and learn everything from how to get out and about on the town to culture tips.
Teach Me Hebrew has a wide range of free Hebrew language classes. It has modules on everything from grammar to songs you can learn with.
Your Daily Dose of Hebrew features free vocabulary lessons. Each post features a word and offers you both audio and context.
Teacher Mike’s Blog offers Hebrew learners short video lessons with text notes.
Loecsen has almost twenty beginner lessons available to Hebrew learners. They cover everything from basic greetings to phrases you can use if you find yourself in need of help.
BBC Languages: Looking for a fantastic introduction to the Hebrew language with video and tons of accompanying material? The BBC’s Hebrew course has it all.
Free Hebrew Language Apps
Apps are a handy way to learn a new language, especially for those who like to study on the go.
Memrise or Anki (for iOS, for Android, and for everyone else): These are flashcard systems that you can use to create your own Hebrew vocabulary decks or download those already created by other users. The desktop version of Anki is free, as is the basic version of Memrise.
Duolingo is a popular language learning app that introduces you to both Hebrew vocabulary and grammar. It’s a gamified platform, so it’s fun to use and addictive, so you’ll keep coming back to learn more.
Drops helps you build your Hebrew vocabulary in just five minutes of study time per day using gorgeous visuals and spaced-repetition.
Clozemaster is a language learning app that uses cloze (fill in the blank) to help you master new vocabulary in Hebrew.
NEMO on iOS and Android is free to download and it offers you the chance to record yourself speaking Hebrew and then compare it against native speakers.
Free Online Hebrew Language Resources for Advanced Hebrew Learners
Take a Free Online Course in Hebrew
MOOCs (Massive Open Online Courses) not only offer Hebrew language courses, but they also offer courses on other subjects, delivered in Hebrew. If you’d like to use Hebrew to learn more about something you’re passionate in, taking an online course in Hebrew can be a useful way to do two things at once.
Class Central is an online portal that indexes free online courses from a variety of sites (including Coursera and EdX). Currently, they have six courses taught in Hebrew listed on their site.
Ted Talks in Hebrew: Ted Talks are a powerful way to learn new things in bite-sized chunks. Most talks are between 10-20 minutes and are presented so that they keep your attention from start to finish.
Watch Hebrew Vloggers on YouTube
If you’re looking for native and relevant material for your Hebrew language learning, YouTubers are a good place to start. Hebrew vloggers cover everything from comedy to beauty to food, so you’re sure to find a YouTube personality who covers a topic that you’re interested in.
Here are a few of my favorites:
Top Geek is run by Karin and Nimrod Aldea and they vlog about entertainment, science, and technology. Their channel includes gameplay and other fun videos, too.
GameGems is a Hebrew vlogger who reviews games and shares gameplay videos with new content every few weeks.
OldSchoolil includes gameplay videos and may be of special interest to those who enjoy vintage games on some of the older game systems.
Ashley Waxman Bakshi: Searching for a Hebrew speaking beauty vlogger? Look no further. Ashley posts makeup tutorials, beauty tips, and commentary videos.
Free Hebrew Language Reading Materials
Finding reading material appropriate for your level in the language can be a challenge. Thankfully, there’s a decent selection of Hebrew reading resources available to you as a learner online for free.
Wikipedia: Use Wikipedia to read short articles in Hebrew. You can switch back to your native language to check your comprehension.
LingQ is a popular online learning system that helps you acquire new vocabulary through its reading interface. It’s free to sign up, though if you want to use it long-term you’ll need to opt for a paid plan.
Google News: Read the news in Hebrew with Google News.
What Free Online Hebrew Resources Do You Use?
It’s amazing just how many incredible resources there are to learn Hebrew at no cost online. Though I’ve featured 42 places you can learn Hebrew for free, I’m sure there are many more. Is there anything you feel that I’ve missed? Let me know!
Want More? Check out Benny's favorite Hebrew resources.
The post Learn Hebrew for Free: 42 Resources and Classes to Learn Hebrew Online appeared first on Fluent in 3 months - Language Hacking and Travel Tips.
March 3, 2019
How to Speak Latin: A Beginner’s Guide to Living Latin
Even later when I was studying Latin in Rome, Italians were amused and bewildered that I was learning Latin, especially when my Italian still needed so much work.
But to my mind, it was obvious why I should learn Latin. As someone interested in literature, history and art, everywhere I turned I would run into the influence of Latin literature and Roman culture. Let’s face it: until the 20th century, pretty much every major cultural figure in the West had an education centered around the study of the Latin classics. I wasn’t going to let myself be less cultured than them.
My Latin professors in high school and college didn’t do much to dispel the impression that Latin was a dead language. Although they exuded passion for the subject and knew the language backwards and forwards, they taught it as a puzzle to be deciphered or a specimen to be dissected. The usual approach was to take a text and “parse” it. This meant we would read a sentence, analyzing it grammatically down to the smallest detail to tease out all the nuances of Latin’s intricate grammar and word order. After this intense (and very dry) analysis, we would then attempt an awkward translation of the sentence into English.
After a few years of this, I could make sense of any Latin text put in front of me, but only in the most laborious of ways. I couldn’t read a text in Latin for pleasure the way you would read a novel in English.
I assumed this was just the way it had to be. Latin was too complicated, too alien, too ancient, too “dead”. There was no way I could gain the same intuitive feel for it that I had for English or the other modern languages I had studied.
It was then I discovered a community of Latinists that flipped all these assumptions on their head. Known as “Living Latin” (or Latinitas Viva in Latin), this worldwide network of Latin teachers, scholars, enthusiasts and eccentrics made the astonishing claim that it’s possible to become “fluent” in Latin. After my frustration with the traditional approach to Latin, I was ready to give “Living Latin” a try.
What is Living Latin?
The “Living Latin” movement is an approach to Latin that recognizes that Latin is a natural human language like any other. The fact that it is ancient, “dead” or “classical” does not prevent us from using it as a living language, or even internalizing it to a level of fluency much like we might aspire to with any other foreign language.
In the words of Reginald Foster, one of the leading figures of the movement: “If even the dogs, prostitutes and bums in ancient Rome understood Latin, then maybe there’s some hope for us.”
He has a point. Although we may think of Latin as the language of Virgil and Cicero, the fact is Latin was spoken as a native language by people from every social class and level of education. Its intricacies are no more impossible to master than those of other languages that people somehow manage to speak, such as Russian or Turkish.
If we recognize that Latin is a natural language, then this has important consequences for how we teach and learn it.
First and foremost, this means that even if your goal is just to read texts in the language, an approach focused solely on reading is not the most efficient method for getting there. This goes back to the way that your brain processes language. To put it simply: as far as your brain is concerned, the real language is the spoken language. Your brain is designed to absorb and internalize language by hearing and speaking it – this is how you learned your native language, after all.
By contrast, reading and writing are an abstract, secondary representation of the spoken language. If your entire experience of a language is just as marks on a page, you will never develop the same immediate, intuitive “feel” for it that you have for your native language or other languages you’ve learned to fluency.
From this basic premise, the “Living Latin” movement involves many different attempts to lift Latin off of the page and bring it to life. If you want to practice your listening, there are podcasts, newscasts, songs, and recordings of classical texts. If you want to practice speaking, there are online classes and conversation groups that help you connect with other Latin speakers at your level. There is also an ever-multiplying number of Latin conventions and weekend getaways where participants speak Latin to one another.
What does Living Latin Sound Like?
Ok, so now you’re convinced that it’s possible to speak Latin. But this raises another crucial question. If Latin is a dead language with no native speakers to consult, how do we know what it’s supposed to sound like? How do we pronounce it when we speak it?
Currently, there are actually two common approaches:
The first is Restored Classical Pronunciation. This is basically an attempt to speak Latin with the same pronunciation used during the heyday of ancient Rome, the age of Cicero, Caesar, Virgil and Ovid. Thanks to the efforts of scholars dating back to the time of the Renaissance, we have a pretty good idea of what Latin sounded like in classical times, and this pronunciation is what has normally been taught in schools even outside of a Living Latin context. If you had some Latin in high school or college, this is probably the pronunciation you learned.
If your main goal with Latin is to read texts written by Roman authors, then this is probably the pronunciation you would want to use, since it lets you hear Cicero’s orations and Virgil’s hexameters the way they were meant to sound, the way they were heard by their original audience.
The second approach is known as Ecclesiastical Pronunciation, because it reflects the pronunciation used in the Catholic Church over the past millennium. Some of the consonants and diphthongs have shifted away from their pronunciation in Roman times, and now they bear a striking resemblance to the pronunciation of modern Italian. One of the most prominent examples is the pronunciation of “c” and “g,” which in Classical Latin were always hard consonants, but which in Ecclesiastical Latin are pronounced like English “ch” before “e” and “i” as in Italian. For example, “Cicero” would be pronounced as [Kikero] in Classical Latin, but as [Chichero] in Ecclesiastical Pronunciation.
As its name suggests, this pronunciation is primarily used in religious circles and institutions, but it also has some popularity among Medievalists as well, since this was the pronunciation followed by medieval authors writing in Latin.
Restored Classical pronunciation is by far the most popular choice, but whichever pronunciation you choose, you can rest assured that you will be able to understand and be understood by users of the other pronunciation. Most Living Latin gatherings include a mix of both approaches, and with a little practice, your ear can follow both without difficulty.
How Can You Talk About Trains, Planes and Automobiles in an Ancient Language?
This is another obstacle people get hung up on when first starting out with “Living Latin”. If we’re going to use Latin to talk about daily life, then we run into the fact that our daily lives involve any number of objects and concepts the ancient Romans had no knowledge of and didn’t coin words for.
But Latin is not the only language to face this challenge. This was the same problem faced by other ancient languages when they first had to cope with the modern world. Arabic, Persian and Hebrew, for example, all have a written tradition spanning millennia. n their formal grammar and morphology, they have remained relatively unchanged over the centuries. When it came time to talk about modern phenomena such as electricity, cars and tweets (yes, even tweets), speakers of these languages were not content to just bring these words into their speech wholesale with just a local accent. They wanted to preserve the authentic sound and structure of the language in the new vocabulary they introduced.
So what they coined new words for these phenomena based off of native roots. For example, in Arabic, to translate “automobile,” they borrowed the word sayyara, originally meaning “caravan.” For “electricity,” Persian took the word barq meaning lightning and expanded its semantic range to include the electricity that powers your house as well. For “computer,” Hebrew coined the term machshav from the verb chashav, meaning “to think” – or if you stretch a bit, “to compute.”
“Living Latin” follows the same approach, adapting and extending Latin’s stock of classical vocabulary. For “automobile,” it adapts the word raeda, meaning “a four-wheeled carriage” and applies it to our modern, motorized carriages. It cheats a bit with “electricity” and translates is as vis electrica, literally “electric force” (the immense number of Latinate words in modern English are a useful crutch here). Then “tweets” is the easiest of all: “Living Latin” just uses the Latin word for the “tweets” of a bird – pipationes.
Now you might say this is all well and good, but doesn’t such ingenuity in coining new terms risk turning into a clever parlor trick? If the ultimate goal is still to read Latin authors, only with more understanding and immediacy than before, then how does it help to learn expressions that you’re never going to find in a book?
There are two points to keep in mind here.
First off, the fluency you develop from actively using a language exists on two levels: not just vocabulary, but grammar as well. Vocabulary will vary greatly across authors, and in the end, you will have to hone your vocabulary with the authors you most want to read. However, the fluency you develop in processing the structures of Latin grammar – that is, developing an immediate sense of them as units of meaning and not just forms to be parsed – will carry over into any text you pick up. You reap the benefits of this grammatical fluency no matter what vocabulary you used in developing it.
Then as a second point, it is far from useless to learn this neo-Latin vocabulary. You bring a language to life by anchoring it to your daily reality, and so applying even slightly modified or unclassical Latin words to your everyday experience makes them (and by extension, the more classical words they derive from) more vivid for you than if they had just remained on the page.
For example, the kind of raeda the Romans rode around in was clearly different than a modern automobile, but I have to confess that the word never stuck in my mind when I just came across it in classical texts as another type of vehicle used by toga-clad ancients. But as soon as I linked the word to an object that I saw and used every day, it became seared unforgettably in my brain. Now when I read a passage where Caesar or Cicero mention a raeda, a clear image leaps into my mind that has an organic link to my own experience (and no, I don’t picture them riding around in a Prius).
How To Get Started with Living Latin in 4 Steps
You’re convinced that it’s possible to speak Latin and that it might even be beneficial. But where do you start when it all seems so intimidating? Fortunately, there are some ways to warm up your spoken Latin before you try out your first “Salve!” (Latin for “hello”) in front of another living soul.
Step 1: Start by Listening
Listen to a vast range of spoken Latin. Especially spontaneous Latin by contemporary speakers and recordings of intermediate level texts. It’s best to save the Aeneid and Cicero’s Catilinarian Orations for later. The idea is to immerse yourself in a large amount of material that you can understand readily (Google Krashen’s “comprehensible input”). This will help anchor vocabulary and grammatical structures in your head, and pretty soon you will be able to instinctively deploy them yourself. Not because you memorized a rule, but just because they “sound right.”
Step 2: Read, then Paraphrase
After reading a passage from Virgil, Caesar, or your own favorite author, try to retell the action out loud in simpler language using your own words. This helps you retain vocabulary and convert the passive experience of reading into the active skill of speaking.
Step 3: Find Living Latin Speaking Partners
The network of Latin speakers is connected more than ever before, both virtually and in real life. Find a regular speaking circle that you can attend, even if you’re not sure if you can utter a coherent phrase yet in Latin. The “Living Latin” community is very supportive and will be more than happy to help you get started.
Step 4: Immerse Yourself in Living Latin
“Immersion” is, of course, the gold standard for learning any foreign language, and although the technology does not yet exist to send you back in time on a study abroad program to ancient Rome, there are a number of programs and conventions that will give you the experience of 24-hour-a-day immersion in Latin.
Living Latin Resources
Here are some of the resources I’ve found most helpful for learning “Living Latin”.
Living Latin Books
Lingua Latina Per Se Illustrata by Hans H. Ørberg: This is the most popular elementary text in the “Living Latin” community. Ørberg’s Lingua Latina gets you thinking in Latin from day 1 by teaching Latin entirely in Latin.
*Ossa Latinatis Sola by Reginald Foster: This is another introductory course by one of the world’s premier Latinists. As opposed to older textbooks centered around memorizing conjugations and puzzling out artificial example sentences, *Ossa Latiniatis Sola adopts a more intuitive approach centered around “experiences.” These experiences have you dealing with authentic Latin from the first day of the course, building up your understanding by gradual immersion in Latin authors covering the whole range of Latin’s history, from the ancient Romans down to the present day.
Conversational Latin for Oral Proficiency by John Traupmann: If you already have the basics of Latin grammar, this is the book that will teach you how to start speaking it actively. Presenting a series of dialogues revolving around daily life and typical conversations, it gives you the vocabulary and structures you need to convert your book Latin into spoken Latin. It also contains a helpful glossary covering all the expressions you need to talk about daily life, as well as Latin renderings of phenomena the Romans never encountered, such as American sports and modern technology.
Living Latin Dictionaries
Sad to say, Google Translate has not yet reached the level where it can translate English into anything close to comprehensible Latin (a deficiency that has led to many unfortunate tattoos). So if you want to know how to say something in Latin, your best bet is these two dictionaries.
Smith & Hall’s English-Latin Dictionary : This is the best general purpose English to Latin dictionary. A product of the 19th century, it won’t help with “automobile” or “airplane,” but for almost any another concept you want to express, it will give you the pure Ciceronian way to say it. It has recently been digitized by the website Latinitium, so you no longer have to lug around the 900-page tome to your Latin meetups.
Morgan-Owens Lexicon : This online glossary is the one to go to for any newfangled modern concept you want to express, from cell phone to photocopier.
Living Latin Listening Resources
Of course, if your goal is to speak Latin, you’re going to have to get used to hearing people speak Latin in real time. Fortunately, there are a plethora of YouTube channels, podcasts and other audio resources to help you get started.
Magister Craft : This YouTube channel presents a variety of content all in Latin, including retellings of stories from Roman history and mythology and descriptions of life in ancient Rome. What makes this channel especially suitable for beginners is that the Latin used is fairly simple, all the videos are subtitled in English, and the stories are illustrated with computer graphics that help immerse you in ancient Rome.
Scorpio Martianus : This YouTube channel contains a variety of helpful and fun videos, including a recording of the text of Ørberg’s Lingua Latina, tips on pronouncing Latin, and versions of popular songs redone in Latin. Especially recommended is his Latin version of “Under the Sea” from The Little Mermaid.
Quomodo Dicitur : This podcast is hosted by three experienced Latin speakers and ranges over a variety of topics. While a bit more challenging, it gives you a good idea of how proficient Latin speakers express themselves in ordinary conversation.
Latinitium is a wonderful all-around website for “Living Latin”, as it hosts several podcasts, compilations of spoken Latin from around the web, and articles with helpful tips for Latin learners.
Living Latin Immersion Experiences and Meetups
Paideia : The Paideia Institute offers a variety of programs for Latin enthusiasts, including immersion experiences in Rome and Paris, and online classes in spoken Latin for all levels.
Accademia Vivarium Novum : Possibly the only university in the world that allows you to pursue an entire undergraduate education in Latin.
Conventiculum Lexingtoniense and Conventiculum Dickinsoniense : These two weeklong Latin conventions run by Terence Tunberg and Milena Minkova are among the most highly regarded Latin conventions held in the US. They require a language pledge to speak nothing but Latin for the entire week and are open to all levels of Latin speakers.
SALVI , the North American Institute of Living Latin Studies, hosts a number of weekend retreats and weeklong immersion experiences throughout the US.
Get Started With Living Latin Today
If you enjoyed this article, why not get started with learning “Living Latin” today? I’d love to hear about how you get on.
The post How to Speak Latin: A Beginner’s Guide to Living Latin appeared first on Fluent in 3 months - Language Hacking and Travel Tips.
